COLLABORATIVE ONLINE INTERNATIONAL LEARNING: ANALYSIS OF STUDENTS’ REFLECTIVE EXPERIENCE

Abstract

In the context of ongoing digitalization and globalization of education, the development of virtual forms of academic mobility is becoming increasingly important as they are capable of compensating for the limitations of traditional models of international exchange. One of such innovative forms is Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL), which ensures the integration of intercultural interaction, digital learning, and practice-oriented training of students without physical mobility. This approach is regarded as an important instrument for the modernization of educational processes and the expansion of internationalization opportunities in higher education.

Purpose of the article. To explore the potential of COIL as a tool for implementing academic mobility of students based on the analysis of participants’ reflective experience gained during an international project.

Methodology. The achievement of the research purpose was ensured through the application of theoretical analysis of scientific and methodological literature on the COIL problem, as well as elements of qualitative descriptive analysis of students’ reflective feedback collected within an international COIL project.

Scientific novelty. The study focuses on the impact of the COIL project on the develo­pment of students’ professional, intercultural, digital, and reflective competences based on the analysis of their real experience in collaborative international online learning. The research expands the understanding of COIL as a complex pedagogical phenomenon that integrates academic, communicative, and reflective dimensions of learning in a virtual international environment.

Conclusions. The study has shown that COIL is an effective tool for virtual academic mobility, ensuring the development of intercultural communication, digital literacy, pedagogical thinking, teamwork skills, and reflective autonomy among students. Participation in COIL projects also contributes to the broadening of students’ worldview orientations and the formation of an understanding of the interconnection between global and local challenges in the context of sustainable development. The obtained results confirm the relevance of integrating COIL into EFL teacher education systems as a modern model of internationalization of higher education under conditions of limited physical mobility. An important additional result is the emphasis on the role of reflective activity as a key factor in interpreting students’ educational experience in international virtual environments.